More from NBC

A face in the crowd

I've often spoken about my love of obituaries—as a way of remembering where we've been by way of remembering those who've been on the journey with us. Few are better at obituary writing than Margalit Fox of the New York Times. Her obituary today is a clinic in journalism. Read her lead. Follow the thread through to the last sentence. And along the way, you will learn about the life of a man who, while not a household name, left his stamp on every household in this country. There are great American lives being lived every day. It’s another thing to celebrate them quite the way she does.